Gen 1 (1989-1992) Ford Taurus SHO / Haltech Elite 2500 Help

I am running a newly installed Elite 2500 on a Ford Taurus SHO engine that has been converted to coil on plug, a 12 tooth / 1 missing crank trigger, and ID1050X injectors installed. I am new to this and there is no reference for a Haltech on this engine or base map out there. I have a Haltech WB2 dual wideband installed and working (one per bank). The triggers successfully synch (crank and home, home is lost above the Minimum RPM number set in the Home Signal) and the car will fire but then immediately die. If I crack the throttle (~17%) it will start and idle around 2100RPM but then die after about 30 seconds.

It has a stock IAC valve (2 wire) but I'm not sure if the output max or frequency settings are correct nor any of the controller details. Not sure where to get these specs from.

So it seems I have two issues, not sure if interrelated:

1) Won't start without cracking the throttle

2) Once started with throttle cracked (then let off throttle) it idles around 2100RPM and the dies after about 30 seconds.

I tried turning off the IAC and adding post-start fuel but neither seemed to make a difference. I have not touched the base fuel, timing, or target lambda tables.

I did notice that the settings the Haltech enters when I select the ID1050 injectors in NSP are different than what Injector Dynamics has on their site, not sure how big of differences would make a difference.

What was the state when you took that screen shot? It shows 773 RPM (not 2100), the widebands (if online) are indicting 40% lean, coolant temp (CTS) is about ambient (87f), TPS is indicating 47% (calibrated?) and your battery voltage is alarmingly low (10.35v -- use an external battery charger while setting up your ECU.

BTW - unless you have worked in AFR your whole life, switching the values in Lambda will make you life easier in the EFI world. I would change that ASAP.

For initial startup, don't worry about what you have to do to the throttle -- just give it what it wants for now. You need to let the engine get warm, and the wideband sensors to warm up and start reading, so do whatever it takes to keep it running until that happens. Lots of things could lead to engine dying after 30 seconds -- a startup table (after start, or coolant temp corrections) is changing, or a safety (low oil pressure) is triggered, or you have sensor errors with your crank trigger. Make sure your ECU or Laptop is logging so this can be studied (sharing the data here instead of just a screen shot would be helpful). If the wideband is providing data before the engine dies -- what is it indicating -- going lean (Lambda value 1.1 or higher)?

As you approach normal temperature (at least 160f/70c , preferably 180f/80c), the wideband should clue you in as to what needs to be done with the fuel / VE table. Perhaps the whole table needs to go up or down, or maybe you just tune the cells you can get to and observe the trend -- then extend that into the areas beyond where you are operating. Since you are likely holding the throttle open and running faster then your desired idle, extend whatever changes you made down to lower RPMs, and try closing the throttle slowly, observe that the wideband tells you and adjust those cells.

Eventually, you should be idling on the throttle stops, with the engine warm. Now you can turn off the engine, and work on starting parameters (perhaps a cranking fuel table, or cranking compensation), with the throttle closed. Starting with the engine warm should be easy. Later you will do the same thing with the engine cold, first get the cranking parameters for cold start correct, then get the wideband online as soon as possible, and adjust the coolant temp compensation as the engine warms up. (you will likely repeat this several times, refining it slightly each time, since it interacts with the fuel table, and you will over time be tweaking that.

Thanks David. I did try to upload the Haltech log file but when I did the forum gave an error of "You cannot select a null file.". The file name was PCLog_2025-08-11_0849pm.hlgzip, not sure if that caused an issue or not. Are the Excel logs helpful? I logged the session and tried to investigate what was happening but there was no readily apparent indicator why it suddenly died when I play it back in NSP.

The state when the screenshot was taken was that the starter was still likely engaged and I was giving it throttle to get it started (it takes alot to start it). The battery is fully charged, just voltage drop on cranking. Coolant temp is correct (it is hot here).

I will switched over to lambda. The attached screen (I could only attach the Excel log here, not the Haltech log) is how it's idling now (~2000RPM, no throttle, running lean). It is idling at 2000RPM, I am not holding the throttle.

OK, you can see that despite the post-start correction adding 1% fuel, and coolant temp correction adding 8.6% , the Lambda is reading about 10% too lean. It looks like your fuel table has cells about every 500 RPM, so I would change the 2000 and 2500 cells at -20.7 MAP by adding 20% fuel. Since you are just starting out, you might want to just add 15-20%% to the entire table.

I would make that fuel table correction, and see where that gets you. The CSV file is useful. I can see that your engine dies when the wideband values go above about 1.12. Let's give that thing some fuel to idle.

I think your starting issue is probably too much fuel, you can see in the graphs the Lambda values after the sensor comes on is immediately rich, and your "post start compensation" quickly drops and the overall mixture is then too lean.

I would reduce the post start significantly -- I would only have it provide extra fuel (10% max for summer temps) for a few seconds, even cold it should probably be down to zero in 6-10 seconds. I wonder if your "fuel prime pulse" is too large. Try cutting that in half at the current temperature and cranking with a closed throttle (no more than a couple of seconds) -- better, worse or the same? If no start, then open the throttle a tiny bit and try again. If it's better, then try 0 with no throttle. Many engines don't need any prime pulse. Since you have to open the throttle to get it to start, that implies there is not enough air for the amount of fuel that is present.

Is the "fuel cranking", the absolute amount, or a trim applied to the current fuel table? If so, then changes to the fuel table affect the proper crank table values. I think this should be your main tuning tool for getting it to fire immediately with a closed throttle.

David you were correct, it was getting WAY too much fuel to a point where unburned fuel was hitting the headers and smoking. Turns out that I had the wrong pulse width adder for my injectors. I got the info from the Injector Dynamics website but it wasn't in the format I needed and I didn't know enough to do the conversion but when I realized what I had it was firing the injectors WAY too long. I did have to set the throttle set screw to 3% to get it to start without pressing the throttle but it does start and idle now. I zeroed out the fuel corrections tables, including post start, all except short term O2 control so I could more easily see what is happening and can layer those back in now.

Having it idling (with timing only, I don't know the correct setting for my IAC) now I'm in a better plan to apply some of the tuning knowledge I've learned through HPA courses.